remembering heart's desire
by george's firework
Summary: He may be gone in body, but Colin is still there in heart and soul and he follows his grieving brother around Hogwarts, hoping that some day he'll be able to move on.


It was really hard to stay away from Hogwarts when the new school year started and everyone who had survived the war went back – a number that was thankfully much larger than those who wouldn't be going back for real. Like him.

He doesn't resist for long and eventually he's floating through the stone hallways with everyone else, although it's different this time because nobody can see him, and nobody can hear him, and nobody can touch him. He's completely invisible and it's kind of freaky – especially when people walk through him. He knows they don't mean to, because he's just a spirit and they have no idea that he's even there, but it's still creepy.

He has a few comforts which keep him smiling, though. He's not alone here in the spirit world – there are plenty of people. It's not a lonely place, which is nice, but it's not a happy place either. He tries to avoid places like Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes where the products are collecting dust and the spiders are making their homes in the corners because George is lying behind the counter, surrounded by empty bottles and crying into the shoulder of the twin he can no longer see. Fred cries too – especially on the days when George sees a mirror and has to restrain himself from smashing it. All the ones in the shop and the flat are completely shattered.

Hogwarts isn't exactly the most cheerful of places either, though. The castle still lies in ruins in some places and though the bodies have been removed and the bloodstains vanished, the feeling of loss still hangs in the air and the students walk between classes quietly, heads down. It makes him feel sick that just over a year ago this place was full of shouting laughter and cheerful faces and now it's been reduced to a place with the atmosphere of a graveyard.

It improves every week, though. There's more laughter and the student body as a whole seem to relax slightly and he even sees McGonagall smile in the run up to Christmas and it fills him with hope - perhaps they can still heal the broken spirit of the school.

However there's one boy who detaches himself from the others completely and, oh it just kills him to see it – no pun intended just because he's already dead. He rejects all offers of company and comfort and just… he just doesn't _live _anymore.

Dennis Creevey is a shadow of the bright, hyper boy he used to be and everyone can see it in how gaunt his cheeks are, how grey his skin is, how sunken his eyes are. He's slowly wasting away, hidden in the corner of a classroom, sitting on a pile of rubble by himself at lunch, wandering the castle after hours with unfocused eyes until someone finds him and gently guides him back to his room.

"Oh Dennis, you have to start moving on," Colin whispers to his little brother one evening, his pleas falling on unhearing ears as Dennis goes on another one of his night time wanders. "You spent all summer grieving, I was so desperately hoping that coming back here would help but it really hasn't, has it?"

He sighs and follows his younger brother to the place he always goes to on his night time wanders. The Creevey brothers both snuck back into Hogwarts for the battle and, while Colin was out in the grounds fighting, Dennis had been discovered and shoved into a nearby abandoned classroom by the teacher who found him there. From there he had watched the battle through the window, terrified and alone. He had watched his brother fall without being able to do a thing about it.

Dennis sits in front of an elaborate mirror in the classroom, as he always does, and Colin floats over to perch on top of a nearby desk, as is routine for him. Someone will be along shortly to collect Dennis – they've figured out that he comes here now so there's an alarm on the door which is connected to the wand of whichever teacher is on patrol. But until whoever it is comes, the Creevey brothers will have to enjoy the silence alone together. It's just different, because one of them thinks he's completely alone. Dennis's voice startles Colin out of his little reverie – he hasn't heard him speak in so long.

"Harry said, at one of the DA meetings, that he defeated V-Voldemort because he looked in this mirror and saw himself with that… that stone that Voldemort wanted, and then he had it, because he wanted to get it away from Voldemort. And I can see you, so why aren't you here?" The small boy frowns at the mirror, tears welling up in his eyes as he gazes at it. Colin frowns too, and glides over to stand behind his small brother.

In the mirror, the scene is different. Dennis isn't sitting on the floor, crying, he's standing up and there's a massive grin on his face. There are loads of happy people behind him who look like miniature versions of his little brother, with slight differences. Colin smiles slightly as he realises that this is him seeing Dennis with a family.

There's something wrong with the picture though. Dennis is standing slightly off-centre and the gap to his right isn't filled by a son, or daughter, or wife. It's just an empty space and Colin starts as he realises that the empty space is exactly where he's standing now and that this mirror isn't just any magical mirror – it's the Mirror of Erised.

"_I show not your face but your heart's desire_," Colin whispers, remembering what the inscription reads from a book he once read. To his great surprise, Dennis jumps and peers at the mirror, and then hopefully at the space where Colin is standing.

"Colin?" He asks hopefully, his voice cracking, and the door to the classroom swings open to reveal a pretty Ravenclaw student standing there. She smiles sadly at Dennis and Colin chuckles softly to himself as he recognises that this is the girl he saw in the mirror, standing behind Dennis wearing a wedding ring to match his.

"Hello, Dennis. How're you tonight?" She asks and then pauses. "Did I hear you say something?"

"I must have dozed off," Dennis says with a sad shrug. "I'm the same as ever, Anna-Marie." The Ravenclaw, Anna-Marie, smiles sadly at him again and takes a step forward to gently grasp his hand.

"Come on," she says softly and begins to lead him of the room. "Let's get you back to your dorm."

Colin watches them go and then turns back to the mirror as the door clicks shut. The people in the mirror wave happily at him and Colin smiles sadly as Dennis beams at him. He can only hope that, despite the fact that he's lost his brother, Dennis can one day recognise that Colin's not left, not completely. Perhaps this is one heart's desire that will come true.


End file.
